Electric range time switch



March 13, 1934. F L X 1,951,028

ELECTRIC RANGE TIME SWITCH Filed Nov. 24, 1931 Fig.3.

ELECTRIC STOVE CURRENT SOURCE lNVENTOR Frederick L101.

64: BY Hi5 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. I 13, 1934 STATS PAT NT FFICE ELECTRICRANGE TIME SWITCH Frederick Lux, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to The LuxClock Manufacturing Company,

9 Claims.

This invention relates to time switches, and more particularly to atimer having a clock mechanism eiiective to close or open an electriccircuit at a predetermined time, and after the lapse of a furtherpredetermined period of time,

to reverse the condition or" the circuit.

One object of this invention is to provide a time switch of the abovenature comprising a novel arrangement of whereby the period of timeduring which the circuit will remain closed or open for operatingelectrical devices may be varied at will.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of the abovenature in which the timeoperated switch is locked against repeating itsfunction of opening and closing a circuit until he device is manuallyreset for a further operation.

A further object is to provide a device of above nature which will besimple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install andmanipulate, compact, ornamental in appearance, and very eiiicient anddurable in use.

With these and other objects in view there has been illustrated on theaccompanying drawing, one form in which the invention may beconveniently embodied in practice.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 represents a fragmentary View in front elevation of an electricrange timer mechanism embodying the invention.

2 is an end View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a bottom View of the same, showing the contactor levers in the01. position.

Fig. 4 is a view of the contactor levers as they appear in the onposition.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the contactcr levers as theyappear after the circuit has been again broken by the clock mechanismafter the cooking period has elapsed.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the contactor levers and itsassociated parts.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the cooking perioddial unit and associated parts.

The purpose of the present invention is to simplify the operations ofsetting the times for the control of an electric range.

One advantage of the present invention is that 50 the oven or otherheating element or" the range may be readily controlled directly from aclock or other timing device without the use of exterior switches orother complicated mechanisms previously employed for this purpose.

Referring now to the drawing in which like reference numerals denotecorresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10indicates a front dial plate of a clock upon which the time is indicatedby the usual hour hand 11 and minute hand 12. The hands 11 and 12 arerotated at the correct constant speed by any suitable power source, suchas a spring driven clock movement, generally indicated by the numeral13. 1t wfll be understood, however, that the hands and. 12 ay also berotated by any suitable form or" electric motor unit within the spiritand. scope of the invention.

The clock movement 13 is supported by a pair or vertical front and rearframe plates 14 and 15 which are held in separated relationship by aplurality of horizontal spacing pillars 16. The rear irame plate 15 isattached to a rear mounting plate 17 which is adapted to be suitablyconnected to the back of a clock casing, not shown. The lower part ofthe dial plate 10 is provided with a fixed serving time dial l8, and arotary cooking period dial 19, the former dial having the numerals 1 to12 marked around the circumierence thereof in a counter-clockwise diection, while the latter dial has the numerals 0 to 6 marked on thelower half thereof in a clockwise direction.

The dials l8 and 19 have setting shafts 20 and. .11 extending forwardlytherethrough, said shafts 2-1) and 21 carrying on their front ends apair of setting pointers 22 and 23 respectively. The setting shaits 20and 21 extend rearwardly through the frame plates 14 and 15 and areadapted to be continuously rotated in opposite directions by a pair ofgear wheels 24 and 25 secured to said shafts 20 and 21 and locatedbetween the frame plates 14 and. 15. The gear wheels 24 and 25 areadapted. to mesh with a pair of idler gears 26 and. 27 which in turn areadapted to be selectively engaged by a pair of driving gears 28 and 29.The driving gears 28 and 29 are secured to a pair of horizontal manuallyoperated set shafts 30 and 31 which are slidably mounted in the frameplates 14 and 15. The set shafts 3G and 31 extend forwardly through theclock casing (not shown) and rave a pair of knurled hand knobs 32 and 33attached to their forward ends.

By pushing the shafts so and 31 rearwardly until their rear ends abutagainst the rear mounting plate 1'? the gears 28 and 29 will be carriedinto mesh with the idler gears 26 and 27, respectively. When the gears28 and 29 are thus in mesh, the set pointers 22 and 23 may be rotated bymanipulation of the knurled knobs 32 and 33 to the desired switchoperating times.

In order to cause the cooking period dial 19 to rotate with the servingtime pointer 23, provision is made of a sleeve bushing 34 surroundingthe set shaft 20 and having said dial 19 secured thereto. The sleevebushing 34 has a pinion gear 35 attached to its rear end and isidentical in size with a pinion gear 36 rigidly secured to the set shaft21. Both of the pinion gears 35 and 36 are in mesh with a common largerintermediate idler gear 37 journaled on the forward end of a stud shaft38 which is attached to the front frame plate 14. By means of thisconstruction it will be obvious that the cooking period dial 19 willrevolve in phase with the serving time dial pointer 23 when the knob 33is turned.

Rigidly mounted on the setting shafts 20 and 21 between the front frameplate 14 and the dial plate 10 are a pair of cam follower discs 39 and40 having radial lugs 41 and 42 projecting therefrom. The discs 39 and40 are adapted to be engaged at all times by a pair of spring pressedsleeve cams 43 and 44 secured to a pair of gear wheels 45 and 46,respectively, and adapted to mesh with a common gear 47 driven by a geartrain generally indicated by the numeral 47a.

The gear train 47a receives power from a main spring 48 and causes thesleeve cams 43 and 44 to make one revolution every twelve hours in thesame direction. The front face 48a of each cam sleeve 43 (44) isprovided with a shouldered notch 48b into which the sleeve cams 43 and44 are adapted to snap suddenly at the desired times for actuating theswitch mechanism to be described later. The sleeve cams 43 and 44 arepressed forwardly at all times against their respective lugs 41 and 42by a pair of elongated resilient leaf springs 48c and 4803 having theirupper ends rigidly secured to the front frame plate 14, as by riveting.

By means of this construction it will be seen that the sleeve cams 43and 44 will be held in their rearmost positions while the lugs 41 and 42are in contact with the high portions of the cam faces, but will snapforward suddenly when the notches 48b register with the lugs 41 and 42of the cam followers 39, 40.

Switch mechanism In order to cause the voltage from a source of power 49to be applied to and shut off from a power consuming device, such as anelectric range operating relay 50, provision is made of a pair ofbell-crank rocking contactor levers 51 and 52 which are pivoted upon apair of forwardly extending flat metal brackets 53 and 54 rigidlysecured to the rear frame plate 15. The contactor levers 51 and 52 areeach provided with integral offset inner arms 55, 56 having insulatedcontacts 57 .and 58, preferably of silver, adapted to be connected tothe current source 49 by a wire 59 and to the range switch operatingrelay by a wire 60, respectively.

The contactor levers 51 and 52 are provided with forwardly extendingpointed arms 61 and 62 adapted to respectively engage with a pair offorwardly extending lugs 63 and 64 formed on the lower outside edge ofeach of the leaf springs 48c and 48d, as clearly shown in Fig. 6. Thepointed arms 61 and 62 are connected together by a coiled tension spring65 which tends to move the contacts 57 and 58 into contact for closingthe circuit, this motion, however, being initially obstructed by theengagement of the pointed arm 61 with said lug 63 (see Fig. 3).

When the time for the beginning of the cooking period arrives, theforward motion of the sleeve cam 43 will permit the leaf spring 480 toalso move forwardly carrying with it the lug 63 and permitting thecoiled spring 65 to swing the contactor lever 51 about its axis forclosing the circuit (see Fig. 4).

In order to open the circuit at the end of the cooking period or at theserving time, the running of the clockwork will bring the shoulder 48bof the sleeve cam 44 into registry with the lug 42 at the predeterminedtime. The cam 44 will thus be caused to snap forwardly and allow thesilver contact 58 to be rocked away from the silver con tact 57, thusopening the circuit (see Fig. 5).

The contactor lever 51 is prevented from following the lever 52 at thistime by means of a set screw 66 located in the rear frame plate 15 andadapted to abut against the rear edge of said lever 51.

In order to permit the contactor levers 51 and 52 to be returned totheir initial positions as shown in Fig. 3, said levers are providedwith outwardly extending slender arms 67 and 68 having enlarged heads 69and 70 on their extremities. The heads 69 and 70 are adapted to beengaged by the gears 28 and 29 when the set shafts 30 and 31 aremanually pushed rearwardly by the knobs 32 and 33. This movement willcause the pointed arms 61 and 62 to be caught behind the lugs 63, 64 onthe ends of the leaf springs 48c, 48d, as shown in Fig. 3.

From this construction it is obvious that after the contactor levers 51and 52 have caused the switch contacts 57 and 58 to automatically closeand open the circuit, and are in the position shown in Fig. 5, it willbe impossible for the switch to be again operated until the levers 51and 52 have been reset into the position shown in Fig. 3 by thedepression of the manual set shafts 30 and 31.

Operation In operation, assuming that it is desired to cook a meal fortwo hours on an electric range and have it ready to serve at 10:45oclock. The set pointer 23 will first be rotated by pushing in theknurled knob 33 and rotating it in a counterclockwise direction untilsaid pointer 23 indicates 10:45 oclock on the fixed serving time dial 18(see Fig. 1). It will be understood that the rotation of the pointer 23over the serving time dial will simultaneously rotate the movablecooking period dial 19 the same amount. The cooking period pointer 22will next be rotated in a clockwise direction by pushing in and rotatingthe knurled knob 32 until said pointer 22 indicates 2 hours on the scaleof the cooking period dial 19.

With the device adjusted in the above manner, the contactor levers 51and 52 will appear in the positions shown in Fig. 3; that is with theswitch contacts 57 and 58 in separated relation and with the switchopen. When the hour of 8:45 arrives, the leaf spring 480 will snapforwardly away from the pointed arm 61, allowing the contactor lever 51to rock to the position as shown in Fig. 4, thus bringing the switchcontacts 57 and 58 together and completing the circuit. When the hour of10:45 arrives, the leaf spring 48d will in a similar manner snapforwardly allowing the contact 57 to be moved away from the contact 58to the position as shown in Fig. 5, thus breaking the circuit.

While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in whichthe invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form isshown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention isnot to be limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified andembodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. Inshort, the invention includes all the modifications and embodimentscoming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, andfor which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In a range timer of the class described, a timing mechanism having aclock dial, a pair of setting dials located on said clock dial, a pairof pointer carrying set shafts extending through said setting dials, oneof said dials being movable and connected to rotate with the pointer ofthe other setting dial.

2. In a range timer of the class described, a timing mechanism having aclock dial, a pair of setting dials located on said clock dial, a pairof pointer carrying set shafts extending through said setting dials, oneof said dials being movable and connected to rotate with the pointer ofthe other setting dial, and a switch mechanism responsive to therotation of said shafts under the control of said timing mechanism.

3. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials,a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism,one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials beingstationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dialbeing movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial beingconnected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial.

4. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials,a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism,one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials beingstationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dialbeing movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial beingconnected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial, andmanually operated means to set each of said shafts independently.

5. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials,a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism,one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials beingstationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dialbeing movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial beingconnected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial,manually operated means to set each of said shafts independently, and aswitch mechanism controlled by the rotation of said shafts tosuccessively close and open the circuit through said range.

6. In a range timer, a timing mechanism having a pair of setting dials,a pair of pointer carrying set shafts driven by said timing mechanism,one of which passes through each of said dials, one of said dials beingstationary and serving to indicate the serving time, the other dialbeing movable and indicating the cooking period, said movable dial beingconnected to rotate with the pointer shaft of the serving time dial, andmeans for manually setting said shafts.

7. In a time switch, a frame, a timing mechanism, a pair of slidable setshafts, a pair of spring pressed bell-crank levers pivoted in said frameand. carrying a pair of cooperating contacts on two of the arms thereof,a detent means engaging said levers for normally holding said contactsin separated relation, and means to release said detents to permit saidcontacts to come into electrical engagement and to thereafter separatefrom each other, one arm of each lever being in alinement with one ofsaid set shafts, the sliding of which will reset said detents.

8. In a time switch, a timing mechanism, a pair of slidable set shafts,a switch including a pair of levers carrying contacts adapted to engageeach other, spring means connecting said levers together, a resilientdetent for holding one of said levers to keep the switch open, meansunder the control of said timing mechanism for releasing said detent topermit the closing of said switch, and manually operated means forresetting said detent into open circuit condition.

9. In a time switch, a timing mechanism, a pair of rotatable andlongitudinally movable spring pressed cams, means operated by saidtiming mechanism for rotating said cams, a pair of cooperating switchcontact-carrying levers under the control of said cams respectively, therotation of one of said cams permitting the switch to close, and therotation of the other cam subsequently causing the switch to open, thecontacts of said levers being in alinement and adapted to engage eachother.

FREDERICK LUX.

